Patricia Hill, the former executive director of Chicago's African-American Police League, sought to bridge the divide between law enforcement and minority neighborhoods, serving as a Chicago police officer and as an activist, according to friends and family.

Hill, a former teacher, attempted to boost minority representation among the police department's ranks and worked to end police brutality against minorities.

"She attempted to carry on a tradition established in the 1960s as other African-American police leagues in other cities kind of fell by the wayside," said Worrill, director of Northeastern Illinois University's Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies. "She kept the idea and organization, and I think she'll be remembered for being a tenacious activist who spoke truth to power and had great integrity as a police officer."

The former Patricia Richardson was born in Chicago grew up in the Far South Side's Princeton Park neighborhood, Worrill said. She was a standout athlete at Harlan High School and on the Mayor Daley Youth Foundation Women`s Track and Field Team, where she was mentored by Olympian Willye White.

She took a job as a physical education teacher for Chicago Public Schools, working for a time at Collins High School on the West Side. But after more than a decade as a teacher, Hill, who was upset about police tactics in minority communities, left the classroom to become a police officer in 1986.

"I think she was greatly concerned about the racism in the law enforcement and general impact on black people," Worrill said.

Hill was president and executive director of Chicago's African-American Police League, an advocacy group for black officers, from early 1990s into the 2000s. In that time, she was voice within the department against notorious Cmdr. Jon Burge, who was ousted and convicted in 2010 of lying about the torture of suspects.

The police league also filed a federal lawsuit against the Fraternal Order of Police, alleging the union failed to represent black officers when it made plans to display a float at the South Side St. Patrick's Day parade showing support for Burge and other officers who were disciplined for abusing African-Americans. Plans for the float were eventually canceled.

She also encouraged the recruitment of black officers, whose numbers on the force continued to lag behind the proportion of African-American residents in the city.

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"You need police officers who can change hats," Hill said in a 2016 interview with the Tribune, adding that in black communities, cops sometimes "have to become the social worker, the teacher. ... It's not just about kicking a-- and taking names. It's a service, you're a public service employee. And in the black community, 90 percent of your calls are service calls."

After retiring from the force, Hill worked for a decade as an adjunct professor at Northeastern Illinois University's Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies.

"She used her classroom as a laboratory to teach the broad issues of the day," Worrill said. "She organized her class to participate in the annual Bloody Sunday and took a group every spring to Selma, Ala., for nine years to learn about a major event in the civil rights movement."

Her daughter Stacy Hill said, "She had a couple careers … but she was always a teacher in whatever capacity she was in."

Outside of work, Patricia Hill was an avid tennis player who also enjoyed live music and attending cultural events.

One of her greatest honors came in November, when she was invited to be a panelist in a discussion about police brutality at Oxford Union in England along with the mother of Trayvon Martin, the black teen shot by a neighborhood watch volunteerin Florida, and the mother of Sandra Bland, the former Naperville woman who died in a Texas jail after being stopped for a traffic violation.

"She was here to offer a different perspective as a police officer, but not the traditional police officer," her daughter said. "And she did her research and found out this is where Malcolm X, Desmond Tutu and Michael Jackson spoke, so she was excited. And every speaker takes a picture that's put on the wall, so she was very honored to have her picture on the wall."

Hill is survived by two other children, Trennie Hill and Ronald Hill Jr.; a sister, Lori Richardson; a brother, Hercules Richardson; and a grandchild.

A visitation is planned for 5 to 8 p.m. Friday in Leak & Sons Funeral Home, 7838 S. Cottage Grove Ave. The family will hold a private funeral and public memorial service at a later date.